When the nights are still warm and long but the promise of autumn is in the air, Melbourne’s Docklands becomes a hive of activity for the Virgin Australia Melbourne fashion festival (VAMFF); formerly the L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival (LMFF). With official runway shows displaying selected pieces from Australia’s best known designers, not to mention after parties and off-calendar events aplenty, the Melbourne fashion festival presents a packed schedule annually. Below you’ll find coverage of Melbourne fashion festival 2017 and past years such as 2016 and 2015.

See the action backstage at Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival‘s (VAMFF) second night as captured thorough Filip’s lens. From documentary style shots to intimate portraits of the people who put in the work behind the scenes, you can view the full gallery by clicking on the thumbnails.

Filip Konikowski joins us again this year for Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival (VAMFF). Capturing all the backstage antics at this year’s event. Filip kicks things off with the snaps below from day one of the event.

To give something texture means that you give it a rough or raised feel. The opposite of smooth and sleek, it’s something that we commonly hear and see in fashion. Texture gives an extra “edge”, a wow factor that makes a piece of clothing stand out and when this is applied to hairstyles, the result is nothing short of eye catching. This concept of using…

Duct tape: one of man’s greatest inventions and latest hair accessory? It was Alexander Wang who started it all, turning a simple ponytail into a very futuristic hairstyle by adding a strip of duct tape in the center part. Ingenious? Yes, as genius as those who invented the duct tape. Judging by the effect the duct tape hairstyle had on the runway, it’s not surprising…

Fishtail braids can be surprisingly simple to master, though their beauty is that they give off a look of detailed complexity. On the runway at the Melbourne Fashion Festival, Australian accessory brand Mimco use a hip version of the braid to compliment their very futuristic collection. The collection was entitled Paradise Battalion and L’Oreal Professionel Hair Director Damien Rinaldo created a perfectly complimentary look: this…

Between a free-flowing look and a regular ponytail sits another great and easy option: the half-up hairstyle. The variation seen on the L’Oreal Paris Runway 03 for Melbourne Fashion Festival (VAMFF) was one that breathed new life into the style by way of one of this year’s continuing hair trends, namely wet look hair. Responsible for the look were LMFF Hair Directors and L’Oreal Professionnel…

On day 3 of VAMFF, Filip Konikowski pointed his lens not just at models backstage but also the make-up (and hair) artists, volunteers and photographers that make it all happen. Click through the gallery above to see some behind-the-scenes shots from day 3.

Filip Konikowski takes us backstage at the David Jones sponsored parade on day 1 of VAMFF, a parade which included a spring / summer 2013 collection from Mary Katrantzou presented just in time for the antipodean autumn.

Melbourne Fashion Festival (VAMFF) is starting in just a few days, and along with the host of runways made available for the public to attend, there’s also the chance of running into the gorgeous Barbara Palvin. The Hungarian model and L’Oréal Paris global ambassador is being flown to Australia as a special guest of the festival, which runs from the 18th – 24th March.

Every fashion week has to come to an end. At 2012’s VAMFF (Melbourne Fashion Festival) it happened in a swirl of tulle and a Silence of the Lambs-like lepidopterous moment as the final model turned at the end of the Toni Matchevski runway.